Thoughts on the USB-TC01

First, I was comparing the USB-TC01 to a few other products when I was making my purchase decision. The NI 9211 looked like a good option, but I prefer plugging my thermocouple into my measurement device rather than using screw terminals. I also considered the Omega TC-08, but I decided that using an NI product would mean getting my software up and running faster.

And getting the USB-TC01 acquiring data was very easy on my normal work laptop. I only had to plug it into USB and plug in my thermocouple. As advertised, there were no issues with drivers. I used a DAQmx example and I got that up and running within 5 minutes.

I had some difficulty using a different test computer. When I transferred everything to the other computer, I got a strange error telling me I had to downgrade the firmware of the USB-TC01. Looking into this more, I learned that I had an older version of DAQmx which isn't compatible with the USB-TC01. I upgraded DAQmx to 15 and got everything up and running. At first, I was trying to figure out how to actually downgrade the firmware, but got nowhere. But in general, I would avoid using the USB-TC01 if you have a test computer where you're not allowed to upgrade DAQmx.

In conclusion, I would recommend the USB-TC01, especially if you're a LabVIEW user. Hopefully, in the future, NI comes out with a multi channel version, similar to Omega's TC-08.